New Auction Records At Sotheby’s in Hong Kong

New records were set at the latest Sotheby’s  Asian sale in Hong Kong. Chinese art, watches, jewelry and wines were sold by the global auctioneers, raising an impressive total of $411 million. The event lasted for six days in the city that has become the third largest auction center in the world, after New York and London.

The Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite sale raised a total of $65.4 million and set two new World Auction Records: the Mandarin Orange diamond ring featuring a 4.19-carat Fancy Vivid Orange Diamond, which fetched  $2.9 million, and a 6.01-carat Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond and Pink Diamond Ring which sold for $10 million. The latter is a record price per carat for any fancy vivid blue diamond: $1,686,505 per carat. The sale was estimated to raise a total of between $85 and $110 million, but since not all pieces were sold, the final result failed to meet expectations. A rare 9.27-carat Golconda Fancy Vivid Pink Diamond and Diamond Ring for instance, didn’t sell, even though it had been expected to go for between $13 million and $19 million.

Another record was set by a blue-and-white vase from the Ming dynasty, for which an unidentified bidder paid a whopping $21.7 million, much more than the pre-sale estimates of HK$80 million (approx. $10 million). The 15th century vase was just a part of the successful sale which totaled $72 million.